During the year Zywia Wojnar collects her household’s unused medications.

The drugs, along with and other household waste that can’t be put out with the regular garbage, are boxed up for proper disposal during the Dutchess County Solid Waste Departments’ hazard waste disposal days.

“They make it very easy for people,” said Wojnar, interim program leader of the Environment and Energy Program at Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County in Millbrook. “Just show a little effort to not to hurt someone else or the environment.”

Wojnar has the right idea.

Prescription medications, along with other pharmaceuticals, are showing up in the nation’s waterways, according the EPA, potentially causing harm ecological harm.

In fact, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, a nationwide study by the United States Geological Survey in 1999 and 2000 found low levels of antibiotics, hormones, contraceptives and steroids in 80 percent of the rivers and streams tested.

The trouble is some drugs aren’t filtered out by wastewater treatment plants and make their way into rivers and other waters, possibly endangering aquatic life. For example, studies have shown that when exposed to hormones through birth control pills, male fish produced eggs. Other drugs, including expired medications, the state DEC reported, such as anti-depressants and beta-blockers, affect the spawning of some aquatics. Further concerns about the effects of long-term exposure to low levels of antibiotics relate to the possible evolution of drug-resistant microbes and bacteria.

Yet the EPA has found that everyday tasks, such as taking medications and attending to personal hygiene, as well as illicit drug use, veterinary use, pharmaceutical manufacturing and hospital residues continue to contribute to the presence of drugs in water and soil.

Indeed, medication residues that pass through people and into sewer lines are other culprits, as are personal care products that wash down shower drains and unused medications that are thrown away.

Called Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products as Pollutants, the contaminents are on the rise, reports the EPA, with more than 100 types identified in 2007 in environmental samples and drinking water. While environmental concern about the dangers of drugs to marine animals and people centers on antibiotic resistance and disruptions to aquatic endocrine systems, concentrations of drugs in the environment are low and associated risks, uncertain.

Kaelan Hollon, senior director, communications and public affairs of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said while pharmaceutical ingredients have been found in our surface water and community’s sewage treatment plant or septic tanks the amount of residue found in our waterways is small — about one sugar cube’s worth in about 2.5 million gallons of water, or four Olympic swimming pools.

“These trace amounts are very small and are measured in parts per trillion, placing them well below the thresholds that would pose a risk to humans or the environment,” Hollon said.

Beyond that, no published investigation has shown exposure to the residues are a risk to human health.

“Prescription medication plays a vital role for many of us, helping us to live active, more fulfilling lives,” Hollon said. “But it’s important to remember that medicine, whether it’s prescription medication or over-the-counter cough medicine, should always be stored, taken and disposed of properly.”

To that end, PhRMA has launched MyOldMeds.com, a program that educates the public on the best practices of proper storage, use and drug disposal, including in-home drug disposal, community disposal program and National Take Back Day.

Here, she said, dispose of old drugs at home by dissolving unwanted solid medications in water and pour, along with liquid medications, in a sealable plastic bag. Add kitty litter, sawdust or coffee grounds to the bag to make it less appealing to children and pets, then seal the bag and put it in trash. Remove all personal labels from the container bottles and recycle them.

Alternatively, check with community disposal programs or participate in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Take-Back Day on Sept. 27.

Likewise, Terry Platz, director of communications for the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries Clarkson University in Beacon, said storing unused, expired medications and bringing them to a collection site for National Take-Back Day, www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback, is a good way for people to curb environmental issues associated with unwanted medications.

With that, she said, scientists are finding chemicals in water that link to common personal care products, antibiotics, allergy medicines and more.

“The results of our daily habits are believed to be the cause for bizarre mutations in frogs and other animals found in Chesapeake Bay, for example,” she said.

Attention to the matter can help alleviate associated problems.

“This is an extremely complex situation that presents an immense challenge, but if each of us makes an effort to learn more, buy responsibly and dispose properly, that is the best place to start,” Platz said.

Wojnar said in addition to environmental issues, proper drug disposal ensures that unwanted medicines don’t end up in the hands of children and drug abusers.

“It’s something we should be watching,” she said, as problems can arise. “Just because we throw it out there, we sometimes think it’ll be gone. That really isn’t true.”